Crescendo
by Astoria02
Summary: It's the Miss Mystic Falls pageant and Stefan Salvatore is nowhere to be seen. Damon comes in and becomes the hero. One-shot. Please R


Crescendo

It was bright outside as the sun shone over Mystic Falls. Today was the Miss Mystic Fall pageant competition. At the time Elena was signing up for it, she hadn't imagined the situation she would be in the future. She was with her mother and everything was exiting. She knew her mother wanted this and that was the only reason she was carrying through with this.

She had had her chance to drop out, of course. But then every time she even thought about it, her mom would pop into her thoughts with a smile. Elena couldn't help it. It was the last thing she and her mother did together. It was the last thing that was holding them together. How could she sever that thin thread? How can she walk away from this after all she'd been through?

She knew Caroline was worried about her winning. Elena admitted that she knew she would probably get the pity votes, not that she wanted them, of course. But she thought about still making an effort. It would be useless if she were to just hand it over and do nothing because then everything this meant for her and her mother would dissappear.

Elena was already dressed in her blue satin gown. It was simple, selected from a great pool of dresses in a hurry. Aunt Jenna had helped her through this and, even though she might not want to admit it, this meant something to her, too. Elena was sorry she had hurt her feeling earlier with that comment, it's just...this would have been much more significant if her mother was here. Or maybe, Elena thought, it wouldn't be significant at all. Like everything else, Elena was standing in a crossroads, not knowing which path she had to take.

"Where's Stefan?" Elena asked to no one in particular. She bent over the railings a bit and tried to sneak a peak at the foyer. All she could see was strange faces and no Stefan. She sighed. It was, what, three minutes before it was her turn-

"Caroline Forbes," Mayor Lockwood called from downstairs. Caroline turned to Elena and smiled.

"Wish me luck," she said and Elena could see it in her eyes: she really wanted this.

"Good luck," Elena said sincerely.

Make that two. There was no Stefan in sight and she had to go through with this. There was no other option for her. Especially not know that she was standing on top of the staircase, waiting to make her descent.

And then they were calling her name and she knew it was now or never. And never really wasn't an option. She started descending down the grand staircase. It was as grandiose as everything else in the place. There was a beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling and a wild thought occured to her just then...maybe Stefan would be at the bottom of the staircase after all. She closed here eyes for a moment and evisioned her mother. She would be proud, Elena finally decided. She breathed in and then opened her eyes again, sure that Stefan would be right there.

But he wasn't. And she tried to hide the pain as everyone was watching her. She looked at the spot where Stefan was supposed to be and it was empty. She felt the uncoming weight of everything crash to her shoulders. She wouldn't have a partner to the dance, sure, but Stefan was nowhere in sight and she was worried. When they had talked earlier she knew he was lying. She knew he wasn't fine. All she could hope for at that moment was that he was somewhere far enough to not hurt anybody. Plus, this was over already, she'd be discualified for not having a partner. She was almost okay with that. But then, Damon walked into her line of vision, taking the place his brother had left empty. He looked at her with such an intent gaze. A gaze that she could not define by any means. And she was grateful.

She felt her heart do something she couldn't imagine it would do with Damon. It started beating faster. She smiled weakly at Damon, who, she had to admit, really saved her from humiliation that moment. And he looked...different in that suit. It fit him perfectly and it gave him a different air...as if from the eighteen-hundreds. She couldn't help but notice the striking ways his eyes were staring at her. The way his light blue eyes seemed like an endless summer sky. His perfectly arched eyebrows that had no mocking motive and his lips pursed in clear determination. She couldn't help but see him in a new way. That day, she later decided, she had discovered a deeper side of Damon. A side that he didn't often let anyone see.

"Where's Stefan?" she asked.

"I don't know," he whispered back. Damon extended his arm and she placed her palm in his. The spark of electricity captivated her nerves from the fingertips to the lower part of her spine. She didn't know that his fingers would provoke such a reaction from her. She hid it well but her thoughts became a whirlwind and she couldn't separate one from the other.

She breathed. To begin with, where could Stefan possibly be? She looked around, trying to find him between the other figures. But their faces blurred in her vision and she couldn't get the feeling of Damon's hand on hers from her head. The way the spark hadn't gone but was still there, teasing her nerves. She wondered if he felt it, too.

As they moved towards the courtyard outside, Elena took one last look at her surroundings. She decided that it was too late anyways for Stefan to show up. Plus, the music was starting and their dancing had to start. It was the perfect setting, a bright day and a beautiful garden in the background. Everyone was dressed so nicely and the scene looked right out of a movie. Why couldn't she be happy? Or better question, why couldn't she stop all thoughts from her head and let herself be carried away for once?

Damon felt her gaze on him and saw that she was tense. "What do we do?" she asked, curtsying. Damon had already resolved to dance with her. After all, his idiot of a brother was nowhere near. And Damon was worried he wasn't simply hiding and playing a saint. Not this time. Damon had that sinking feeling in his stomach that told him that something was wrong.

But this moment, this right here, was the only thing that mattered. Elena's delicate fingers on his hand had caused a new wave of feeling for him. Something he had never expected to feel. He had been aware of his growing feelings for Elena, had known that he mored than simply cared for her. But still, he wondered if she felt it, too. With his hightened senses, he wasn't sure if it had even happened. But he allowed himself the comfort of imagining it had.

"Let's just get through this okay?" She gave a simple nod and stepped back.

Damon recognized the melody from somewhere and he recognized the dance from the the old times. He knew Elena was nervous but he also knew that she trusted him. In some weird, unconventional sort of way.

And she looked beautiful. She looked nothing like Katherine. And even if Katherine had invaded his thoughts just then, he realized Elena had that aura of gentleness and kindness Katherine could have never achieved. For a moment, he didn't even know how he had associated them. Where Katherine was selfish and manipulating, Elena was helpful and strong. There was no comparison and at this moment, every thought of Katherine was shadowed by Elena.

Their arms outstretched, they started dancing around each other as the music played and filled their bodies. An invisible spark much powerful than anything either of them had ever experienced connected their hands, their eyes, their souls...

And she felt it then, as the music rose into a beautiful melody that ensnared her heart, she knew that he was there too, sneaking almost undetected into that corner she had only reserved for Stefan.

She knew, when the music reached its highest peak that she loved Stefan more than anything else in the world, but she also loved Damon.


End file.
